Nobody Cares
by Harosata
Summary: Just because they do not exist, does it mean they must be removed from existence?  Spoilers, maybe.  Discontinued
1. Unknown Conversation

Kingdom Hearts I do not own, for it is shared by the likes of Square and Disney. However, I do own any characters I create, which, unfortunately, I do not have at the moment. Well, enjoy this folks, or bash at it, whichever you feel is the more appropriate of the two.

* * *

A black cloaked figure sat on a rock on a beach of grey sand, looking at the black sky as the tranquil waters waved back and forth. He was deep in thought as another black cloaked figure, noticably shorter than he was, stepped out of a dark portal and onto the sands. There was silence, eventually broken when the short figure opened his mouth. 

"Is something the matter?"

The tall figure let out a sigh, though there was not much sadness behind it. "I decided to visit my brother a few days ago. And this letter," he held an envelope up, "was the only thing left of him in his castle."

"What does it say?" The short figure watched as the tall one cringed the letter in his hand. He and a few people he knew had a mental condition that prevented them from developing feelings, but that did not stop some of them from trying. If the tall one could express a feeling now, it was sorrow.

"I take it you know my brother well." When the short one nodded, the tall one continued to speak. "Then you already know that when my father left to do research on the heart, he gave his inheritance at Hollow Bastion to my brother and me, and shortly I left afterwards to find a cure for this condition. My brother had the job of governor of Hollow Bastion, but he was a bit careless when it came to looking after pets." The tall figure chuckled. "I remember when he forgot to lock the cages and two of those 'Heartless' creatures escaped out of the lab. Our neighbors ended up moving away when they found those black pups in their basements."

"To the point, please?" Even though the short one had anmesia when the others found him, he had been around long enough to know that this person often spoke of his brother too much.

"Sorry. Anyway, you know that woman he was dating, the one called Malificient?"

"Yeah, that green hag."

"I thought it was creepy when she was into those black arts, and I did not like the fact that she picked up that silver-haired boy to act as her servant. However, I just recently found out that she was part of a mafia. The head of it to be exact."

"No way!"

"I didn't believe it at first either. However, I suppose those seven kidnappings do kind of make sense now. According to a ritual in one of the books she had (which I took while she wasn't around), she needed to sacrifice seven female virgins who were pure of heart in order to gain wisdom and power beyond the mortal realm. One of those girls happen to be a friend of the servant boy, but Malificient tricked him into thinking that the girl would be spared if he participating in kidnapping the other girls."

"That snake! I'll kill her!"

"No need to. Ansem didn't know about these kidnappings or Malificient's involvement, but he was catching onto her behavior. As he was working on his latest experiment (a gate to a new world, perhaps), Malificient was going to perform the sacrifice in his home. Well, until an assassin came."

"What assassin?"

"I...don't know. However, what I do know was that he was friends with both the servant boy and one of the girls, so I suppose he must have found out where the ritual was taking place. It seems most likely that the assassin was able to kill her and stop the ritual..."

"Was your brother heartbroken?"

"Ansem didn't have the time. When he finally left his experiment to check the ruckus downstairs, he just saw the assassin stab himself. Just when he was about to try and help the assassin, that servant boy then attacked him. Worse of all, the servant boy then accused Ansem as being the true mastermind of the whole operation. Before he had a chance to explain, the girls and the assassin's friends (excluding servant boy) ran out of the room, and by the time Ansem managed to free himself, the others had escaped. He must have left, knowing that nobody would believe his story and that he wasn't around the sacri-I mean, girls to let them know that he was innocent."

"That's awful."

"No, what's awful was that the assassin recovered from his wounds and heard the 'truth' about what happened at Hollow Bastion." The tall one dropped his head. "I met that assassin days after the incident, and even without a picture, the words from his mouth convinced me of his misguided intent. I tried to explain to him about Ansem's innocence, but he was too hardheaded. I gave up when I experienced his fighting style for myself, though I wonder if I should have at least fought back. I didn't have the intention to kill."

"Where is your brother now?"

"It doesn't say in the letter. Knowing him, I think he might have headed to the End of the World. That place is more of a maze than Wonderland, so I doubt that even the assassin could track him down..."

The short one drew out a weapon after pondering on the tall one's words. This weapon was built somewhat like a sword, but the hilt and the blade were shaped like a key. "Don't worry, Xenmas. I'll hunt down this assassin before he gets to your brother. Just tell me his name."

"No, I have confidence that my brother will live, Roxas." Xenmas, the tall one, was worried, not just for his brother but also for the short one known as Roxas. The Keyblade, as Roxas's weapon was called, was a given to a select few not only to grant protection to the worlds but also to bless those with the potential of a master swordsman. However, whereas Roxas could not remember anything before when he was found (coincidentally around the time Malificient was killed), the assassin had been gaining a name by helping each world he came upon, and that took many weeks to complete. Furthermore, the assassin had a Keyblade.

Xenmas turned to Roxas, both hoods still on. "You better get back to your room. You might never know when the Heartless would strike back."

Roxas shrugged, disappointed that Xenmas did not trust his skills with the Keyblade to know the name of the assassin. However, he knew that even the Dusks had their limit when fighting the Heartless, and this beach might soon be taken over. Roxas opened a portal of darkness and stepped in, taking one more gaze at Xenmas before the portal closed. Xenmas continued to look at the ocean, finally deciding to drop the letter into the ocean. As the ink ran and made the letter impossible to read, Xenmas stood up and looked at the heart-shaped moon.

"Sora...I hope that isn't a name that will haunt me."


	2. Oblivious Plans

A black cloaked figure sat on a rock on a beach of grey sand, looking at the black sky as the tranquil waters waved back and forth. He was deep in thought as another black cloaked figure, noticably shorter than he was, stepped out of a dark portal and onto the sands. There was silence, eventually broken when the short figure opened his mouth. 

"Is something the matter?"

Xenmas's signature trait was his long silver hair that climbed down his back. If Ansem had not combed back his hair and tanned himself, both of them could have been mistaken for each other. Xenmas hung his black trenchcoat in the closet and picked a white labcoat to go with his ivory vest and slacks along with the purple ribbon that hung around his neck. Lately, he and the others living with him felt an irritation while walking around in the sunlight, which was why they usually wore those black trenchcoats whenever they decided or planned to go out. Xenmas figured this was part of the condition as well since his loss of feeling also came with this burning irritation.

He looked out of the window of the white hall onto the pitchblack city below. This city was perhaps the biggest world ever in existence, but none dared to live in the city itself as the Heartless made their appearance on the streets, and nobody had made any attempt to reclaim the city. The name of this world, The World That Never Was, was perhaps true to its name. This was the reason why Xenmas had spent his younger years overlooking the construction of this white floating castle and moving said castle here: he wished to liberate this world. In fact, Xenmas was not alone; he and five others he had known formed the Organization for this task, and with the latest addition of Roxas, they became known as Organization XIII.

Each member of Organization XIII, including Xenmas himself, were blessed with unique abilities, but Xenmas believed that Roxas was perhaps the strongest of them all. That boy not only had an understanding of the Keyblade, but he also was the first to volunteer in fighting this world's Heartless on the ground whereas the others simply commanded their troops. Maybe Roxas was related to Sora in more than skills, Xenmas thought, and with the exception of the short blond hair and the white and black clothes he wore off duty, Roxas was like an exact duplicate of Sora. Xenmas shuddered, hoping that Roxas would not end up as the one after his brother. There goes Roxas, leading the Dusks into battle.

What were those Dusks? Furthermore, what were those white amorphous creatures? When the Organization had first encountered these creatures, the members found that they could control and summon them with ease. Maybe it was because those white creatures were an enemy to the black Heartless and were in need of allies. Whatever there were, there weren't enough of them to stop all the Heartless in the city. Xenmas was currently searching for a way to completely eradicate the Heart with one swift motion, and two of his collegues had already proposed a suggestion each. In fact, they were just coming into the meeting room at the same time he was, which was composed of 13 thrones of different heights arranged evenly in a circular manner.

Vexen was one of Xenmas's friends in the early days, a scientist with a stern face and long blond hair. He too wore white casually like Xenmas did, but his coat ended just below his waist and he had a blue tie around his neck. The ground he was standing on became cold even in this heated room; Vexen controled the power of ice. His trademark weapon was a blue shield with five extensions.

Marluxia was one of the Organization's later recruits. He was a leader of a group that attempted in eradicating the Heartless, but for reasons unknow, he was a member of Organization XIII. Unlike Xenmas or Vexen, he casually wore a white tanktop with green jeans and a red shirt imprinted with various flower designs. He was known for his control of nature and his pink scythe, two elements that often makes his opponents drop their guards.

"Vexen, Marluxia, I am glad both of you came." Xenmas tried to smile. "Now, I heard that both of you have interesting proposals to help rid of the Heartless infestation. If they are reasonable and obtainable, we will have half of Organization XIII to focus on the chosen project. Vexen, you may start."

Marluxia glared at Vexen, but Vexen cleared his throat. "As you already know, certain individuals are able to control the Heartless..." Vexen chose not to mention any names as they were aware of what Ansem had gone through. "We have already determined that they are controlled if the controller has darkness in their hearts."

"But as we already know, our conditions somehow prevents darkness in our hearts, and whoever we hire to control the Heartless will eventually turn on us." Interupted Marluxia.

Vexen ignored him. "Anyway, you remember the clone I was creating of Ansem's servant, that silver-haired boy? He too was able to control the Heartless. The sample I have of his DNA is dated around when he was taught how to control the darkness, but-"

"And how do we make sure he isn't going to betray us like he did with Ansem the Second?" Marluxia interrupted again.

"sigh Even if his body is infected with the darkness, the clone will have a blank mind. If we could use Namine's power on him, we should be able to give him a past and a reason to do away with the Heartless."

Marluxia cringed upon hearing Namine's name. Although she was found by the Organization before Roxas, she did not want to join as one of its members. She was a young girl around the age of Roxas with yellow hair and blue eyes wrapped in a white dress and sandals. She had the uncanny ability to alter the memories of others, and even though she had not touched the minds of any of the Organization members so far, it was this power alone that made Marluxia uneasy.

"So how is the prototype coming so far?" asked Xenmas.

"Judging by the scanners, the darkness within that body is slowly disappearing. As I was going to say before Marluxia interrupted, I would need a more recent sample of the servant in order to complete the clone. He is the only controller of the Heartless that is still alive..." Vexen thought a bit, "and is mortal."

"I will take your proposal into consideration." Xenmas turned to Marluxia, who had calmed down. "What do you propose?"

Marluxia stared at Xenmas, Vexen, and back. "Actually, I have two proposals. We can see that the Dusks and their other versions are enemies with the Heartless. Some of the Heartless are artificial, yet they would go after hearts like their natural counterparts. Therefore, if we can create our own Dusks, we would be able to increase our force gradually until we can overwhelm the Heartless."

Xenmas pondered upon this. "Interesting...controlling the Heartless and creating our backups. So Marluxia, what is your second proposal?"

"Getting Sora to help us."

Xenmas stepped back, acting surprised by this suggestion. "...Why him?"

"Sora wields the Keyblade, correct? The reason why the Keyblade is feared is because it can lock away the heart of the world, the Heartless's main target. Even though Roxas had found this world's keyhole to the heart, his current power only made a barrier on the keyhole without reducing the number of Heartless on this world. We simply have Sora to reseal the world and the Heartless should be significantly halted."

"Indeed...But what if he refuses? You can't threaten to hurt his friends...even with what happened..."

"I will do what I see fit, even if I have to use that...girl."

"Very well then." Xenmas turned away from the two. "Both of you shall use Castle Oblivion to carry out your research. That is where your prototype was, Vexen, am I correct. You are allowed to bring any materials you need as well as Namine and three other members. Both of you are dismissed."

Marluxia and Vexen bowed, though both may be snarling at each other. As the two left via portals, another portal opened, and a man with an eyepatch and two peculiar guns appeared, wearing a black trenchcoat. Xenmas knew him as Xigbar, a man who was not only a great shooter but also one that can manipulate gravity.

"So, Xigbar, where have you been these last few days?"

"If you want to know, you better be prepared for some bad news..."


	3. Kingdom Hearts Is

"Wh-what?" Xenmas had trouble breathing. "Surely you jest..." 

Xigbar shook his head. "Nope, I saw it myself. Your brother, Ansem the Second, is dead."

Damn it. But... "How did he die?"

"Sora came to him."

Sora. A name that sounded innocent had begun to bare its fangs. Xenmas couldn't help but see those fangs. "What did Sora do?"

"Sora made his way through the many fragments of the End of the World, probably taking the same path Ansem took. Heck, I'm surprised Sora could take on a big demon. I mean, I can take down one to, but-"

"Xigbar..."

"Right. Needless to say, Ansem got as far as the remains of some island, then that servant came up to him and trapped him there. By the time that servant fled, Sora managed to catch up with Ansem. Ansem try to sort the whole matter out, but it turns out Sora is hard to convince. It was such a crazy chain of battles happening..."

Xigbar then began to describe the battles that took place. It seemed that Ansem was able to control the Heartless, something both Xigbar and Xenmas were surprised that he could do. Ansem summoned a special Heartless as he charged towards Sora, but Sora and his two strange companions (a dog and a duck), were able to hold their ground. Eventually, Ansem retreated into the partial dome of the island and Sora followed soon after, yet he was too late to erect a barrier to prevent Sora from entering, so Ansem mustered up a lot of darkness to summon forth a giant Heartless as large as the dome itself, eventually joining it in the battle. Still, that did not stop Sora, so Ansem escaped further into the darkness, finding a ship to sail away from Sora. Although the ship protected him well, it did not stop Sora from finding the weakpoints and eventually tearing the ship up. That left Ansem with nothing else, and so he attempted to escape into a door that had appeared out of nowhere, probably where Ansem was headed for anyway. What Ansem didn't count on was Sora managing to strike him in the back just when he got to the handle...

Xenmas was unable to cry since sadness was an emotion he could not feel. He wanted to, but he could not. "My brother..."

Xigbar looked up at him. "You want revenge for him?"

He shook his head. "I cannot feel revenge. My heart is just...empty. What happened to Sora afterwards?"

"Well, he closed and sealed the door, then suddenly, all the pieces within the End of the World were disappearing."

"Disappearing? It didn't just disappear. The worlds were restored."

"That's right. Anyway, Sora and his friends got separated when the worlds reformed. It seems that only the girl went back to the island while Sora and his friends went elsewhere. Don't know where servant boy went, but I have a feeling Sora's searching for him."

Xenmas slumped in his seat. "Damn him...Damn that servant. They've already shed my brother's blood and reputation. What else can they ruin?"

"Well, I hate to tell you this, but before I left, Sora ended up at the crossroads, where Castle Oblivion is..."

"Castle Oblivion..." Xenmas's head jerked up. "I've sent six people there! What have I done?"

"You couldn't have known. Besides, Castle Oblivion is well guarded with its magical cards. Even if Sora knew how to get through the first floor, he'd have to worry about the memories he'll lose."

"You're right...I'm starting to think I can worry. Resume your previous mission." As Xenmas massaged his head and Xigbar vanished with a smile, Xenmas opened another portal. A man with skinny limbs and red hair came out, wearing black robes. This one he knew more than the others; Axel not only combined both the chakrams and flames, but he was also the one who suggested adding Roxas as an Organization member. "Axel, I have several tasks for you."

Axel, who was picking his ear when entering the room, flicked some wax away as he looked at Xenmas. "So, what do you want, oh great leader."

"I want you to go to Castle Oblivion and tell them to be careful of Sora's prescence."

"Sora, huh? Is that all?"

"No, you will also keep an eye on the other Organization members there, especially Vexen and Marluxia. I fear both of them will get carried away with their projects, but I suspsect Marluxia more."

"And you want me to do this because..."

"You're the only one who spars with Roxas everyday, so you should be able to fight someone who uses the Keyblade, is that correct?"

"Ah, I see. I was worried that you wanted to get rid of me."

Xenmas place his hand on Axel's shoulder, staring him in the face. "Axel, I may not be able to feel the ache in my heart, but I suffer for the loss of my brother. Organization XIII is starting to feel like a second family to me, and I don't want anyone else close to me to die. Please, help protect them." A tear dropped to the ground, having dripped from his right eye. "And you have to live as well, not for my sake, but for Roxas. He shouldn't suffer the loss of his friend either. Please...do this for both of us."

Axel let out a sigh, taking Xenmas's hand of his shoulder. "Look, you may be compassionate for your followers if you could feel compassion, but people need to have a strong leader, not someone who mourns for deaths that haven't happened. You're Number One of Organization XIII, got it memorized?"

Xenmas nodded as he wiped the tear away. Perhaps there was nothing to worry about.


	4. Castle of Memories Part 1

Axel frowned as he looked into the pearly orb. So far, Sora and his friends disposed of the Guard Armor with ease. Actually, it wasn't really a Guard Armor nor a Heartless. It was merely a fragment of Sora's memory based on Sora's first visit to Traverse Town. Regardless of whether the Guard Armor was strong or not, this time the young Keybearer was not caught off guard, already heading straight for the head of this creature. While Axel was watching the battle, an Organization member entered the room, but this member was different apart from the blonde hair.

"I didn't think you would come, flame boy. Did Xenmas send you?" This member was a woman, and is the only female member of Organization XIII. She was a quick fighter, using both her kunais and power over lightning to dispose of her foes. It is hard to tell by looking at her sweet face, but if anyone got on her bad side, she would grant them personal hell.

"Yeah, he sent me, seeing as THIS boy is here," Axel said as he pointed to the monitor. By this time, Sora was speaking to someone, though it seemed as though no one was there. Then again, there seemed to be a pink girl standing there, but it might have just been an illusion. "And may I ask how he came to this place?"

"Well, Marluxy thought that we could treat the boy, make him comfortable so that we can strike a bargain."

"Right..." Axel eyed the orb again. "And comfort for him would mean going through a recreation of that homeless town and fighting a bunch of fake Heartless."

"Well," Larxene fiddled with her fingers. "Marluxy might have mentioned his friends in order to get him here, but none of us didn't think he'd go searching on his own."

Axel palmed his face. "Great. I don't know how Sora managed to get his hands on a card that lets him go to the other floors, but I am wasting time I should be spending in Twilight Town by having to look after that kid. Just...tell me where he is."

* * *

"Zexion, I just noticed Sora and Roxas have one thing in common," Axel thought. The silver hair member known as Zexion was sifting through a box of supplies mainly because he was the only one who didn't have a task in the castle so far. Other than his ability to change his appearance, he is pretty much unknown.

"And what would that be? If it's the same soap they use, I'm not surprised." Zexion pulled out a container of liquid from the box.

"...I did not notice the soap thing, and I don't want to know why you pay attention to that kind of detail." Axel rubbed his head. "And now that you ruined the setup I had, I don't think I'm going to point out my discovery."

Still, Axel pointed to a bruise on his head, which caused him to wince when Zexion applied the alcohol and bandage to the wound. When Axel first met Roxas, even when Axel opened up with a friendly conversation, he and Roxas had ended up fighting each other. During the course of battle, Axel had been able to burn and slice the boy without any difficulty, but regardless how the battle ended, Roxas's first blow to Axel had struck him in the head. Strangely, Sora had also struck that same spot on his head, maybe after the same number of minutes had passed and with the same amount of power behind it. For this battle, Axel was able to knock Sora out, though he left Sora there as he teleported to one of the basement levels.

"Okay, so even if Sora can accept that little fight as a friendly welcome, he didn't have to lie about his friends being here."

"Well, I'm sure Sora would calm down," Zexion brushed his hair back as he somewhat became shorter and his hair became lighter. When he spoke, his voice was different, somewhat younger. "If his servant friend talked some sense into him."

"I have a name you know." Axel and Zexion turned to the source of this voice, who was a silver-haired youth. At the moment, he was wearing an Organization cloak, which added to the duo's surprised looks. "It's Riku."

Standing behind the newcomer was Vexen, also wearing a black cloak. "Impressive work, isn't he?"

* * *

Marluxia paced back and forth as he glanced at a container with a white specimen in it. While Sora continued to work his way up the castle, Marluxia was cursing himself, having just remembered that he did not have the genius of Vexen. Just how was he suppose to create the artificial Dusks he promised if he didn't even know how Dusks were born...or even live? Disgruntled with the unanswered question hanging in his head, he stormed out of the room, not paying attention to Namine, who had just arrived from the previous floor.

"Hi, Mr. Marluxia." Marluxia looked at her for a brief moment, suspecting that there was a bitter tone in that sweet voice of hers. "How's your project so far?"

"It's...it's none of your damn business." Marluxia was about to walk out, but he noticed that Namine pulled up a chair and sat in front of the viewing orb, taking out a drawing pad and some pencils. Marluxia stayed a while as Namine put together a drawing of green and black, creating some sort of small incest with a top hat. The insect seemed to be stand on some sort of brown spikey mass reading a book of some sort. However, after she had etched the name of the book, Namine then colored over the title with the same red used to denote the bindings. Just as she did this, both Marluxia and Namine heard some gasps from the orb. Marluxia turned his attention, seeing a cricket complaining about the loss of his well written entries. He shot a glance at Namine again, who only smiled as she started on a new sheet.

"How interesting. You can even alter objects as well as the memories themselves?" Marluxia had just forgotten that he did not like talking to her, but the question did come up rather unexpectedly.

Namine shook her head. "Memories are only fragments that continue to linger in the heart. A heart cannot truly forget, even in the case of amnesia. You know as well as I that I can only rearrange fragments of memories to create fake memories as well as copy them to an empty doll. A book, however, is not a fragment of the heart but rather of this world."

"I see, I see," Marluxia then frowned, excluding the fact he was frowning this entire time. "And you manipulated the book!"

She shrugged. "I don't know really. However..." Namine looked at the orb when it was Larxene's turn to confront Sora. "There is something about him that makes me feel...strange."

Marluxia fumed.


End file.
